<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>A Night At The Opera by The_Forgotten_Nobody</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26931847">A Night At The Opera</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Forgotten_Nobody/pseuds/The_Forgotten_Nobody'>The_Forgotten_Nobody</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 - The Old Guard [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Andy is the best, Held at Gunpoint, Humor, M/M, Swearing, Whumptober 2020, manhandled</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 02:49:13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,205</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26931847</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/The_Forgotten_Nobody/pseuds/The_Forgotten_Nobody</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“So, how are we playing this?” Booker murmurs.</p><p>“Perhaps we should wait a bit, at least until-” </p><p>“Hey dipshit, how about you point that gun over here.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020 - The Old Guard [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1954123</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>264</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Night At The Opera</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I promise, we're gonna get angsty. Just not right now.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Act 2 has just begun, the faint sound of a soprano voice hinting at what is hidden in the darkness on stage, when a gunshot fires and the lights turn on so quickly, Joe is blinking black spots out of his vision. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Truly, by this point, Joe shouldn’t be surprised. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“No one move! Stay in your seats. When we come to you, you will hand over anything we ask for. Comply, and no one gets hurt.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The voice comes from the side, where Joe sees a man, dressed entirely in black and face covered, jumping on stage. He stands beside the opera singer, who is frozen in place. Even from here, ten rows back from the stage, Joe can see the way the young woman trembles. The tears that glisten in her eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>His hands clench on his lap, annoyed that these men, whom there appear to be 12 in total, would ruin such a lovely night, and see fit to traumatise the innocent audience. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Near the front, a man dares to stand. Joe tenses, but the bullet that flies towards him misses his head by a good few inches. He files this information away. They are happy to scare, but less inclined to kill. This was good. This was something they could work with. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So, how are we playing this?” Booker murmurs. He sits between Joe and Andy, who is at the end of the row. Nicky is to his right, his eyes narrowed as he keeps vigilant watch over all 12. Joe would expect nothing less from his keen, observant Nicolo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Perhaps we should wait a bit, at least until-” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>A scream cuts Joe off. Four rows in front of them, a woman is begging to be allowed to keep her necklace. The crook in front of her is holding onto said necklace, pulling so hard that the woman is lifted from her seat slightly. He lifts the gun in his right hand, and Joe shifts, ready to spring into action, when-</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hey dipshit, how about you point that gun over here.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The crook stills, his gaze lifting to Andy, who leans back into her chair with a smirk. Even in her crisp, deep purple suit, Andy cuts a confident, mean figure. A man who does not believe that she could crush his head simply with her bare hands is a fool indeed.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Yeah, I’m talking to you. Why don’t you come over here? You think I’m scared of you?” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“So much for waiting,” Nicky whispers against his ear, sounding faintly amused. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The crook, now effectively distracted, lets go of the woman’s necklace and stalks towards Andy with his gun raised. The rest of the gang also stop to watch in mixtures of concern and interest. In the corner of his eye, Joe spots an older gentleman, one who looks like he has survived war before, slide out of his seat. While the police will almost certainly have been called by now, Joe admires his bravery. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I think you’re gonna be scared,” the crook snarls as he gets close to Andy’s face. She stays where she is and meets his gaze head-on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Go on then, try me.” Andy’s grin is all bare teeth. A snarl more than a smile. It doesn’t even waver as the crook picks her up from her seat, shoves her to the floor and presses the gun against her temple. Some guests gasp, some cover muffled shrieks. Joe does hope she’s not actually going to goad the man into killing her. He’s not sure the audience could deal with the added trauma. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Plus, it’s Joe’s turn to do laundry and even now, with modern cleaning agents, he really hates dealing with blood. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Bitch, if you don’t shut your mouth, I’ll shut it for you.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh, how original.” Andy rolls her eyes. Joe hears Nicky snort, and watches as Booker’s gaze turns incredibly fond. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“This is your last warning,” the crook growls and Joe detects the slight tremor to his words, confirming his earlier suspicions. He considers doing something himself when Booker violently leaps up out of his seat. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Please,” he begs, falling to his knees with his hands clasped out in front of him. “Do not hurt my wife. She is all I have left in this world. She is my one true love. The moon to my sun. The world would lack all meaning without her. Please, she is my heart, and my soul, and I cannot bear to live in a world without her.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you get the feeling we’re being mocked?” Nicky asks him quietly and Joe sniffs. Their declarations are far more powerful and moving. A child could have written Booker’s words. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Booker shuffles forward on his knees and grabs hold of the gun as if he is simply trying to pull it away from Andy’s head. Joe rubs a hand against his beard. It seems they might still end up traumatising the audience after all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The fuck? Get off me!”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Some of the other criminals head over in an attempt to help their friend, shouting obscenities and waving their guns about and just as one gets close enough, they all spring into action. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Booker rips the gun out of the crook's hand and stands to neatly shoot the man who has stayed on stage clean in the head. Andy shoots upwards, smashing her head back into the crook’s face and then swivels to swiftly break his neck. Joe leaps from his seat, dodges a shot that would have hit his arm and snatches the gun away. He throws it to Nicky, allowing his beloved to get two, quick shots in before he takes his own gun from the next man. In the span of about a minute, five of them are already down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The screams are loud now, with the audience clambering out of their seats in fear, but Joe pays them no mind beyond making sure no one gets hit. In the next minute, all twelve men are dead. It is overkill, perhaps, but they had not been nice men, and Joe knows how desperate Nicky had been to see this opera. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Well, that was fun,” Andy says dryly, brushing the dirt off her trousers. “Back exit?” She suggests, pointing behind her. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I suppose there is no chance of them restarting the show,” Nicky laments. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“We will come again,” Joe promises. “Even if we have to sneak through the roof.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nicky smiles at him, grateful. He leans forward…</span>
</p><p>
  <span>A shove causes them both to stumble. Joe levels a glare at Andy, who only raises a single eyebrow in response. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Move. Now. Otherwise, we’re also going to have to do a jailbreak.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Fine, fine,” Joe sighs. “I suppose I should just be glad that you didn’t…,” Joe trails off as Andy brushes past. Her suit, which had looked lovely and pristine on the front, has a large, ugly bloodstain still drying on the back. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Oh yeah,” Andy says, throwing a grin over her shoulder. “It’s your turn to do the laundry.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Booker laughs, brushing past Joe to join Andy as she led them out, but not before showing Joe the twin blood spatters on the cuff of his shirt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Joe really needs new friends. </span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Consider leaving a kudos or comment if you liked this! :)</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>